When thinking of Ivy League colleges, such as Yale, Stanford, or Brown, our minds go to the amazing opportunities and education that they have to offer. Not only this, but how incredibly lucky and intelligent  someone would have to be to attend and even get accepted into such a competitive school.

Although Yale specifically is ranked as one of the best global universities, it comes with cons like any other school.

The National Education Association states, “The majority of college students (more than 60 percent) meet the criteria for at least one mental health problem…” Many students attending Yale have admitted that when they were struggling with their mental health and were forced to unenroll from school for a while, they had to go through the difficult process of reapplying, with no guarantees of readmission. Withdrawing temporarily also took away students’ health insurance and the ability to be on the grounds.

Students attending not just prestigious colleges, but any college, should be able to prioritize their mental health in a stage of vulnerability instead of having to stress over where they would get health insurance from.

Rachael Shaw-Rosenbaum, who unfortunately took her life in 2021, was a victim of this mentality. The New York Times states some of Shaw-Rosenbaum’s words from a Reddit post: “Basically, if I go to the hospital again, I will not be able to resume college and will lose the opportunity I had to learn at an extremely competitive university.”

The thought of not being able to be readmitted to a school that you worked incredibly hard to get into for a medical reason is completely ridiculous and only makes matters worse regarding students’ mental health.

Thankfully, Alicia Abramson and another student brought this issue into the light by suing Yale.

Because of their courageousness, Yale has agreed to settle the lawsuit and has also changed their policies regarding mental health. Yale says that students may have “…Yale Health Hospitalization/Specialty Care Coverage to transition to Yale Health Undergraduate Affiliate Coverage for one year.” Yale also says that students coming back after a medical, personal, or academic absence doesn’t have to “…interview with the committee chair as well as…complete coursework before returning.”

This is a perfect example of the stigma around mental health being broken in a popular environment. Struggling with your mental health means you may be at the lowest moment of your life, and that shouldn’t require you to take on more responsibility and stress.